Phantoms
by Scuttlest
Summary: Einherjar, phantoms summoned from cards that resemble fabled figures. Their appearance, their fighting style, it all matched perfectly. These facts compel the Sheperd's tactician to begin to think. FE13.


**The avatar is named 'Rain' in this fic.**

**This fic mostly comes from a desire to write about something regarding the DLC chapters. Though I didn't have any clear ideas of any particular story to write regarding the Einherjar of the DLC chapters. Writing a story without knowing where I'm going to take it isn't something I do often, but I did it this time and I got... this somewhat pointless story.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Rain breathed out a sigh of relief as the enemy he was fighting started to shimmer slightly. The Einherjar, crafted in the appearance of an ancient sorcerer, looked at peace, almost amused at this event. Perhaps not taking his death seriously enough was a trait of the original person this Einherjar was in the image of.

With his lipless grin, the Einherjar in the image of a man named Gharnef started to fade away, eventually transforming back into a simple card hovering in the air before slowly drifting to the ground. With that, the battle in this Outrealm was over. Einherjar in the images of Archaneans and Jugdrali alike should now be securely sealed in the cards.

"Why did it have to go like that?" An elderly voice asked. Rain turned to see Old Hubba slowly moving across the field. And at a rather good speed what _interesting_ timing the man's trick knee had. Hubba had a twinge of disappointment to his face, which Rain took offense at.

"'Like that'? Did you want us to be killed by the Einherjar?" Rain asked, looking back to the rest of the army. There had been no casualties on their side, he had managed to never lose an ally in battle, not even in his first battle in a brigade besieged town. Still, many were badly wounded after a battle on that scale, he could see those in the army that used healing staffs were already going around to tend to the injured.

"Oh, no, no. I'm very happy you won, I just wish it had taken longer." Hubba's face contorted, Rain had become unfortunately used to the expression. "Did you see those Jugdrali women in motion? Hoo…" He launched into a speech about the figure of some of the Einherjars. He saw fit to start with Ayra, then moved on to Larcei, before settling on Deirdre for an unsettlingly extended period of time. Rain, who was not overly fond of the man, decided to take his leave. Hubba didn't seem to notice the world around him at the moment and continued his ramble.

* * *

For the time being, Rain took part in getting the army back on its feet. While he had no real expertise in wielding a staff, he could treat wounds in a more mundane fashion. He wrapped a few bandages around slashed open arms and torsos and cauterized wounds that were considered too minor to waste a staff on.

For the next hour or so this continued. Rain took the time to exchange a few words with everyone he helped. As he helped with some of the wounds, his mind wandered to the Einherjar and their own fighting skills. They were crafted in the image of heroes, though history only seemed inclined to record a few specific names.

The Einherjar were very powerful, perhaps because they seemed to have been crafted for the purpose of combat. He wondered how much the Einjerjar's skill accurately reflected those of the people they were made in the image of. A sense of pride rushed through Rain at the thought, seeing as he was the one who had defeated several noteworthy Einherjars today, particularly Gharnef and Hardin.

He continued to place bandages on wounded soldiers. Eventually everyone was up and walking, the worst injury at this point would have been a deep cut hidden under a bandage, nothing too crippling. Rain took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Battles in the Outrealms were not over, though they had managed a lasting peace for this particular Outrealm. He took a moment to look over the grassy plain, disconcertingly peaceful seeming, considering the battle that just took place there. Einherjar did not leave corpses or blood, they simply returned to the card.

* * *

"Chrom?" Rain asked in a moment where he was alone with the commander of the army. The Ylissean turned to his tactician, Chrom had taken his share of wounds in the battle, but he had the full motor skills he had when he was unscathed.

Chrom shrugged his shoulders to acknowledge the tactician, noticing how Rain was almost unscratched despite the battle that had taken place. More a mage then a swordsman, he wasn't on the frontlines the way that Chrom was. Though Rain was more then happy to pull a sword on any enemy that got uncomfortably close.

"Yes, Rain?" Chrom asked. He was good at reading Rain's expression, and he could tell that the tactician wanted to talk about something. Nothing too important, just something on his mind.

Rain raised a hand to his chin and collected his thoughts. "Have you ever felt… odd, fighting these Einherjar? They look just like the people in the history books that… most of us, grew up calling great heroes."

Chrom thought for a moment. "Only at first. It was a bit… startling, to see Marth, my distant ancestor and the great Hero-King. Not to mention _fighting _Marth. But once I learned that they were just phantoms that look like historical people, taking them down didn't hold much meaning to me."

After a moment of pondering, Rain nodded. "It feels strange to find myself fighting people that are glorified in the history books. But I had a thought today, how strong do you suppose the Einherjar are compared to the original person they're based on? If they were of equal strength, that would mean that we're at least of comparable strength to the army that Marth lead."

"It would be nice to think that." Chrom admitted, nodding to himself. Being the equal of the army lead by Marth would have been flattering. "But I feel that Marth's army was unquestionably much stronger then the Einherjar phantoms. Looking at what we've seen, I can't feel that they'd be capable of fighting the wars Marth won. What we've fought… they're just ghosts that look like people that once lived. I can't bring myself to believe that what we've been fighting could match the heroes of legend."

Rain nodded, Chrom's thinking made sense, though perhaps the history books severely exaggerated Marth's power. He recalling himself defeating the Gharnef phantom. Gharnef was a powerful, but petty-minded mage who's spite and jealousy went a long way in helping Hero King Marth's enemies become so overwhelmingly powerful. A great part of Gharnef's power came from a certain… _something_, that supposedly rendered him invincible to all practical means of attack. Gharnef enjoyed a powerful position, and schemed to take even greater power, until he was killed, by some woman that he himself had made an orphan.

Gharnef returned again, by a means that history didn't properly record. He was killed for a final time, the kill credited to another woman, an assassin girl who had once tried to kill Marth, but was fighting for the Hero King by that point.

Rain thought of the Einherjar they had fought today. Each of them expressing their own personality, mentality, and some even seemed to possess ambition. Hubba had said that these Einherjar had minds and wills of their own, though Rain noticed distinct gaps in their logic and reasoning. On the occasions where they'd fought alongside the phantoms, they seemed like sane, decent… people. Those facts. Suddenly rolling in his mind, prompted Rain to think about how intelligent the Einherjar really were.

"Do you think these phantoms are sentient?" Rain asked. Chrom seemed to jolt at the sudden, odd question. "I mean, can they reason like you and I can? Live a calm, normal life? The Einherjar currently do not seem to be capable of a life that involves anything besides fighting, but the thought occurs to me."

"Rain, that's…" Chrom suddenly found himself tongue-tied. Such a thought had never struck him before. For him, the Einherjar were faceless enemies, and they died just as easily as any other. He was interested in their names, but for the most part he didn't care who any of them looked like or reminded him of. "I'm… not sure if they're 'sentient', but they clearly don't want to get themselves killed, and they're smarter then a lot of other enemies we've met. Still, if you're suggesting that we try to reason with them…"

"I'm not saying we should try to talk to them. That's never worked with the phantoms before." Rain's eyes shifted to the rest of the army. Everyone had received their fair share of wounds, the Einherjar were powerful and combat with them was kill or be killed. Einherjar who were thinking for themselves still seemed to be too quick to jump to violence for them to live a life any human would call normal. Some of the phantoms seemed to believe that they were fighting for good, noble causes, but they seemed incapable of anything _besides_ fighting. There would never be peace with Einherjar moving freely. "I was just… never mind. It was just an odd theory." He shook his head. "Thinking like that has no place here. We need to bring peace to the Outrealms, not worry about what the Einherjar might be able to become."

Chrom nodded. "Restoring peace to these Outrealms is our greatest priority right now, and we can easily imagine what an endless Einherjar war could result in. The kind of carnage they could cause before they might stop and become peaceful… and if the violence somehow spills over to the other Outrealms, or even _our_ world…"

"You're right. It was just a stupid musing." Rain turned away. "I think it's time we went back to our world." His eyes wandered to Old Hubba, who was busy collecting the cards of the Einherjar where they fell. With the thought of how intelligent the Einherjar still fresh in his mind, he felt a twinge of pity for any female Einherjar Hubba had possession of, and what he might force them to do for him. He shook the thoughts off in a moment. Perhaps they would keep one of the cards again, a small number of Einherjar fought for the Shepherds; they were even more devoid of personality then the Einherjar they fought, and had no interest in anything besides killing who they were ordered to kill.

The two best friends stood in silence for a moment, just a little removed from the rest of the army while everyone waited to be go home. They seemed disinclined to talk further. Rain took a moment to flex his fingers, then sighed. Chrom regarded his friend, and something about the silence, and what they had just spoken about, compelled him to speak.

"If you ever encountered an Einherjar that was sentient, and could be reasoned with, and was willing to talk, what would you do?"

Rain turned back to Chrom and opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. He took a breath in, trying hard to collect his thoughts. Chrom normally didn't ask these sort of questions, and it deserved a good answer. "I… would enjoy talking to them. See how they feel to have an existence like that." He spoke slowly, still working through his thoughts as his mouth moved. "The Einherjar seem to have the personality of the person they were made in the image of. Even if just a phantom, just some arcane facsimile, I'd like to feel as though I'm sitting down with Marth and the allies he made in the ancient war."

Chrom didn't speak of it, but fighting alongside the legendary Marth was a boyish dream of his. Though at this point he'd rather see how well his skills stack up against the king. He nodded in response to the answer Rain gave, satisfied by it.

"Let's not dwell any further on it." Rain added. "We've plenty of Outrealms plagued by warring Einherjar to save. But for now, let's get back to our world and rest." He bowed his head briefly to hide a smirk. He would enjoy a chance to lie down, especially after coordinating a battle that involved both Archaneans and Jugdralians pressing on the army from all sides.

"Of course." Chrom agreed. He looked at the army. Surely after a battle like that everyone deserved some time off for just a little while. "Let's get back to Ylisse. We still have problems in your world to take care of."

* * *

**The concept of how well the Einherjar match the person they're made in the image of from a canon stand-point was the only plot point I had mapped out in my head prior to writing this. *shrug***

**On a sidenote, the way the Einherjar are basically the characters from past games... for the first time ever I'm somewhat bugged by the fact that I've missed roughly half of the franchise. (Only played the internationally released titles.) Though the most bothersome Einherjar have _got_ to be the FE12 characters, Katarina and Legion. Seeing other Archanean characters using their FE12 artwork certainly doesn't help.**

**I still want FE12 to be localized, but I know that expecting it to come out now is just being in denial. And while I normally insist on getting my games legally, FE12 is starting to make me think that it's time I figured out how an emulator works.**

**Ah well, enough rambling. Please review.**


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